1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and method for managing device information through networks, and more particularly, to apparatuses and methods for managing device information through networks, capable of maintaining reliable information on home devices while reducing data traffic in a home network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A home network provides paths that enable digital home appliances to send data to and receive data from one another, and, at the same time, provides connections to external communication networks to enable intelligent communications, to thereby ultimately maximize the sharing of information resources and the utilizing of individual appliances at home through such networks.
There are information-related devices such as personal computers, facsimiles, and so on, A/V devices such as TVs, set-top boxes, DVDs, and so on, control-based devices such as coffee makers, rice cookers, refrigerators, and so on, dummy devices such as remote controllers, interphones, and so on, and the like, that are home appliances connected to a home network. Such home appliances can connect to sub-networks such as telephone lines, wireless LANs, BLUETOOTH networks, Universal Serial Buses (USBs), IEEE 1394, electric power lines, and so on.
FIG. 1 is a view for showing a structure of a general home network.
Referring to FIG. 1, an independent network is constructed with a telephone set 120a, a notebook computer 120b, a facsimile 120c, and a computer 120d connected to telephone lines 120. A notebook computer 130a and a PDA 130b are connected to a wireless LAN or a BLUETOOTH network 130. An USB network 140 includes a computer 140a, a printer 140b, and a scanner 140c. An IEEE 1394 network 150 includes AV devices such as a TV 150a, a camcorder 150b, an audio set 150c, and the like. To electric power lines 160 are connected control-based appliances such as a coffee maker 160a, a rice cooker 160b, a refrigerator 160c, and a washing machine 160d. These sub-networks 120, 130, 140, 150, and 160 are interconnected by a node 170 as a bridge port. A master server 110 serves as a path interconnecting external networks and devices existing in these sub-networks.
However, the conventional home network 100 is mixed with existing networks such as telephone lines, electric power lines, and so on, and newly established networks such as a BLUETOOTH network, a wireless LAN, and so on, and devices in the networks operate on different hardware and sofiware platforms, so that it is not easy to construct a home network in a single system. Accordingly, a method has been proposed in that a common virtual computing environment called “middleware” is configured, as a home network implementation approach, for devices scattered at home, and applications are provided over the environment.
The middleware is software for communications among devices belonging to different categories, enabling communications among various kinds of devices over a home network. The middleware is deployed between an operating system and application programs, and transparently connects distributed applications and data in a client/server environment.
Recently, diverse middleware structures have been proposed for a home network. Of the structures, the typical structures are (1) a control structure using a peer-to-peer architecture, (2) a control structure using an executable object transfer method in view of distributed environments, (3) a control structure using specific network media functions, and so on. However, the structures (1) and (2) can control devices, but have difficulties in embedding control functions over an entire home network therein. Further, the structure (3) is a structure for home sub-network services over specific devices rather than home network services over all devices at home.
In the meantime, such middleware structures cannot provide services through the Internet only by their functions. Therefore, if the middleware structures are employed, a conversion device or a conversion software is required to convert data structures somewhere on the way in order to provide services through the Internet. However, such a conversion device or a conversion software provides only communication functions through the Internet. Accordingly, a problem occurs in that it is impossible to provide home network information or information on devices existing on a home network to user devices connected to the Internet and to provide services requested by the user devices based on the information.
In order to solve the problem, the Applicant has filed a Patent application entitled “Apparatus and method for providing device information through networks” in Republic of Korea Patent Application No. 2002-13168. The Patent application discloses an apparatus and a method for providing a unit for controlling home devices existing on a home network and a control unit among the devices and also providing to a user device information on the devices existing on the home network.
However, the apparatus and method previously proposed in the Patent application have a problem in that data traffic increases since polling messages are periodically sent to check the states of home devices, and there exists a limitation in updating device information with reliable up-to-date information due to the lack of self-recovering functions and the like.